Woo!

And no, I'm not referencing the Myers-Briggs test result, but one of these days I'll get on here and share those with everyone.. haha. Today was just.. just a good day to be thankful for everything in it - the good, the frustrating, the delicious and whatever else came along with it. 

For starters, there was this guy: 

yes. 

^ I love that guy. I don't know his story, but if I'd had the chance to snag him before we parted ways in the parking lot, I would have asked. It's a small gesture to put a sign in your window, but he was shameless about it, and for that I applaud him. Plus, it's true, and I need to be reminded of that sometimes, even on good days.

I got hit with the desire to eat teriyaki for dinner, so that's what I did, and if Rob was in fact being honest, then he thought the same :). It's not a hard recipe, so if any of ya'll want it, let me know!

teriyaki chicken rice bowl! 

The evening was nothing spectacular, but we did have a contest between the dogs, of who could jump higher, hang on the longest and scrabble the quickest after a thrown toy. Sasha unsurprisingly has the greater amount of physical range, but man oh man, watch out for Stella's pearly whites if you're wild enough to stick your hand in the middle of a toy battle.

go go pups! 

Aaaaaand.... the highlight of Rob's week when it comes to the house: LOOK what is finally fitting in the garage! Please excuse the clutter around the car; that won't always be there, but I am so proud of him for his dedicated work in clearing out the space and all of the shelf-building he's done to make space for our cars! One down, one to go getting in here..

thanks, babe!

The countdown's on.. just a few more days and then it's a 3-day weekend, with good friends, boats & plenty of lake to go around. I. Can't. Wait. 

xo | cmd

Cousins Day at Kings Island!

This was a day meant for pictures, not words.
So with that being said....

suuuurprise! 

I surprised Sydni with an orchestrated trip to King's Island. She guessed that part of the surprise as we were turning into the parking lanes, but the bigger and better part of the surprise came when we strode into the dining hall and were greeted by none other than... cousins!

Maricor came down with the little girls and Shawna, along with some of Shawna's friends. We had the day at our leisure, and we took full advantage of it.

m&s deciding our course for the day.. 

 

why are we still sitting here?! 

Okay, okay, enough of lunch... it's piiiicture time! ♥

starting the day with sophie girl!

love these two

the big girls on the first ride of the day with the teenage girls 

gosh, i love these girls!
#cousins #sisters #family

Shawna & her friends soon split off on their own route for the day, which left Maricor & me with hours of fun at our fingertips with the girls.

carousel

so much fun! 

Syd usually spends her cousin time more predominantly with Madison, but today provided some solid bonding time with Sophie, which was thoroughly enjoyed!

s&s! 

silly faces!!

little monkeys! 

But of course, it was a pretty wonderful day all around :) 

hahaha

the "twins"

syd & mads

all legs!  

Hangin' out with Snoopy & Woodstock!

It was getting hooooot outside.. 

... so we decided to take a spin on the water ride ...

love love love it!! 

The girls loved it, and they had good reason. On a day like this, I think getting doused was part of what kept us all in good spirits :) 

sophie was upset because it took us so long to get back on the ride... again.. 

In between three rides on the water ride, Syd and I took a break to ride one of the bigger coasters; she's currently the only one of the three girls tall enough to ride it, so I indulged and soaked up every second of time with my girl!

roller coaster time! 

silly girls! 

sophie talking business... the older girls listening.. 

Our last stop of the day: Bumper cars! 

I was very much impressed by the girls hanging in as long as they did today, what with us zig-zagging from one far end of the park to the other, and then back again. Over, and over and over again.

cousins - love, love love you, woman! 

The day wound down, and we eventually filed out of the park about 7 hours after we'd arrived. Maricor and I had bets on how far we'd each get before the girls were out cold. We made it aaaall the way to the first stoplight.. haha.. 

zonked. mission accomplished! 

Fast forward to the drive home, immediate showers, a book read, dinner eaten and some night-ending snuggles to top off the perfect girls' day out. We are happy to be back home with Rob, who spent the day catching up on the list of things he's been stretching to get done for weeks now. We're a happy, tired little bunch tonight, and 110% thankful for it. 

Now bring on the...... work week. 

Tomorrow, that is ;) 

G'Nite! 

xo | cmd

Off Kilter

Today was weird for me.

I didn't sleep exceedingly well following the rather emotional day yesterday, so I woke up today with this fuzzy feeling of sleepiness, mixed with a subtle sense of emptiness, and to top it off, cramps. Happy Saturday, y'all. To boot, Sydni ran in the room and bounded onto the bed like a bull in a china shop and kneed me right in the temple. At 8:30am.

Teeeeeriffiiiiic... haha..
But there are worse things, I know.

Even so, while Rob knuckled down and disappeared into the garage & driveway for the better part of the day, I remained inside, teeth brushed but really no other progress than that, finishing up wedding invitations and some of the other miscellaneous housekeeping things.

things i do on days like this..... :o|

And I watched a Lifetime movie [that's when you really know that you're in a funk]. These things just need to run their course; there's no need to fight them. Haha.

Soon enough though, just as I expected it to, the haze lifted and I started coming back to myself, in small fragments, until I was ready to rally the team and have a family outing to tear us all away from the house for a few hours.

this fancy little dinner doll.. 

my love, my best friend ♥

Dinner at Paxton's was a fun outing for the three of us, but it was immediately trumped by dessert next door. If you've never been to Loveland, you'll want to visit Paxton's. And if you're visiting Paxton's, you'll want to stop by Loveland Sweets before or after that ;).

loveland sweets ♥♥

Sydni made the joke, "MOMMY. Tell Nana I ate ALL THIS CANDY... "

She followed that up with, "Just kidding, Mom. She would have a heart attack." Hahahaha.. 

She's right, but the fact that she thought up that joke, knowing my mom (aka Nana) the way she does, she certainly proved that she got her Pappy's wit & jabby spirit, and knows a good jab opportunity when she sees one ;). 

All in all, not a bad way to end an otherwise iffy day. I'm still rattled by yesterday, but it's just that much more perspective to prove to me that my life is pretty good & I am very, very blessed. 

Good night & Happy Saturday, blogbots ♥

xo | cmd

Dave.

This one's a little harder.

It's Friday; that's reason to celebrate when we're talking about the work week. It started off like most Fridays do, with that weekly added perk to each of us, knowing that there were just hours left until another weekend. And so it went, for the first couple hours, until one of my clients called to ask me if I was 'doing all right...'

Doing all right? Well, yeah, of course I am - it's Friday! 
... But I didn't know. I didn't know that he'd be calling me under the assumption that I did know about the passing of my former franchisee, boss & friend, Dave. Apparently this happened on Tuesday, after an accident that had left him in a coma for some odd days prior to Tuesday.

I had no idea. I had no words, and left my poor client hanging on a promise to call him back after I collected myself. I called Chris first, then Elisa, and gathered myself enough to finish the rest of the day until the visitation this afternoon.

It's surreal to think that he has passed. There were so, so many things I revered and respected about Dave, as a person, as a businessman and entrepreneur. It hurts to try and grasp the pain and loss that Lizzy, Nancy & the rest of the family is experiencing now, and it hurts to know that he is gone.

dave :) 

a "typical" laughing day with dave!

My heart breaks for their family & friends, and for everyone who has now lost him as part of our community. I'm forever indebted to Dave for providing me the avenue to move back to Cincinnati when I did almost 4 years ago, and for the opportunity to be a part of establishing our office from the ground up. I learned many things from Dave, both professionally and practically, and I will always give him credit where it's due for that short, short window of time that we had him as part of our little Express family. 

express office 2712 | sales summit 2014
cori. elisa. dave | nashville, tn

Dave, you are so very missed. I'm thankful for having been brought into your path and learning from what we did. We'll all see you again one day. Until then, keep an eye on us and know that you are missed. 

I have hopes that the weekend will improve from here, but I'm left feeling a little empty after learning of this, and seeing Lizzy & Nancy for the first time in months today. My prayers for the family, and for a soul lost all too soon. 

Peace, light & comfort.. 

xo | cmd

Thursday SnapChat Revival

It's been a few days since I explored what new and inventive ways SnapChat has developed to weirden us a little more. I hopped on today during my break to peruse through the stories that others have posted, and browsed some of the filters I haven't seen yet. 

This... is one of them: 

And then there were two that I'm sure are provoking indignant looks from all the self-proclaimed feminists out there [& I'm not saying you're wrong... ]. I'm not entirely sure who's responsible for dreaming these up, but they are pretty funny, and of the three, I'm a huge fan of the intergalactic star explosion. I'm not much of a French Maid nor am I that chick from the J. Howard Miller poster, but I can definitely get on board with goofy glasses and outer space.

no. yes. definitely no.

Fast forward several hours later to when we were home and Sydni got ahold of my phone. She knows and loves Snapchat, and although she never actually sends anything, I've got a reel full of saved Sydni faces in a wide variety of filters. Some fun from tonight: 

like mother like daughter

 And Rob, my beloved fiance:

fresh. and fluffy. and freakish. 

We took a few others, including a faceswap that is just. too. terrifying to share here [you will have to believe me on that..], but we did come up with the pair that we're maybe joking about including with all our wedding invites that will be mailed out in the very near future:  

you should most definitely come and hang out with us.
most definitely. 

Life's too short to be anything but joyfully goofy when the time calls for it.
Tomorrow's FRIDAY, ya'll.. woooo HOO! 

xo | cmd